Let me be clear here. Great players do not make great clubs. Great clubs make great players. This has been proven in all manner of team sports.
In the world of AFL, my point right now is one that encompasses Hawthorn and Geelong and also GWS.
Sam Mitchell, as coach of Hawthorn, understands this more so as someone who is part of a great club. When they won their multiple Premierships, not one player in that club started as being labelled – great. They became great because of four factors that Carlton simply has not had since the first sacking of a coach midway through a season – Brett Ratten.
Hawthorn acquired players with potential, who were young, and the club saw the possibilities that these players could offer within the club. The players went to a club where the entire organisation, from coaches to the Board, knew what it would take to make Hawthorn a great club. They had stability within the club. They had consistency within the club, and they had a Board that understood long-term requirements to achieve long-term success. There were no egos, no self-entitlements, no arrogance. This only reared up after Hawthorn became the club that went on to win multiple Premierships.
Geelong has had a consistent and stable culture that, whether we like it or not, has given it a reputation that most clubs dream of. They are consistently vying for a Premiership by being in the top eight for quite some time. There is always a notion that due to the age of their players, they will fall, but to their credit, they have not.
So, I will say this point-blank: we have not had that since Brett Ratten’s sacking, where the continual knee-jerk reactions have resulted in great players not fulfilling their goal of being a part of a Premiership-contending club. We have had instability and an arrogant stance that has proven does not work. We have had spurts of success, but when things don’t go to plan, arrogance takes over, and once again, a coach is sacked and a new one brought in, hoping that short-term logistics will enable long-term success. How has this worked out so far?
So let’s go through what has happened in the past week, in my view.
TDK. I have stated before that being who he portrayed himself to be would mean that he would stay. However, over the past year, I have seen a complete change in him, and he has now signed with a club for an amount that, for a ruckman, is over the top. There is not one ruckman in the history of the AFL who has been paid the amount he is now getting. Not even Max Gawn, who I believe is a far better ruckman than TDK. TDK is going only for the money, nothing more. St Kilda have paid an enormous amount of money to two players in their club and believes that these two will bring them the ultimate success that has eluded them longer than Carlton’s quest for glory. It won’t happen. There is an underlying culture in that club that has far too many egos.
Jack Silvagni. Now this will polarise some. Reading what fans and commentators have said about his desire to explore free agency has nothing to do with his abilities as a player, nor with this feeling that he is “not loved by the club”. But has the undertones of believing himself to be a better player than he really is. He is a good player, not a great one, and because of his surname, some believe that this should be the most critical factor in wanting to keep him or not. The club has stated that they want to keep him, but he wants to leave. So what does that tell you then?
Look at it this way. If a company CEO hires a relative with the same surname who is only there because of who they are, but they are ok as an employee, not great. What does that say about the company? Jack Silvagni is not a great player, but a good one. If we want to keep him because of his surname, then Carlton will never become successful.
Charlie Curnow. There is talk that is rampant that Charlie Curnow is out of the club and will be in Sydney colours next year. Let’s be realistic here. He is contracted until 2029. If a club wants to acquire him from Carlton, the reimbursement from, say, Sydney would be so substantial that it would require one or even two major players from that club, plus major draft picks. Suggesting that a club like Sydney would be willing to do this would only highlight the fault in this scenario from Sydney’s perspective in their club’s rebuild. I don’t think Sydney would be inclined to do this. If they do, as some have alluded to and are convinced is the case, then it will send Sydney, not Carlton, down a rabbit hole that will take years to climb out of. Buddy Franklin moved to Sydney because they hoped that by getting a great player, that it would ensure that Sydney would win a Premiership. How did that work out? Sure he is a great player, one the best, but he didn’t start off great, the Hawthorn FC made him a great player.
If Charlie Curnow does go to Sydney, then I will hold the door open for him. If his arrogance and self-importance is to show that he is bigger than the club, then he does not understand at all that to be successful, to be continually seen as a threat in the world of AFL, it takes a team to be at the top, not a few individuals who see nothing more than the dollar signs and how a club will lay out the red carpet for them.
Then there is GWS. They have had many great players who were full of amazing potential and abilities, but have they won a Premiership? Are they closer to winning one? Maybe, but not yet because there are far too many ego’s in that club that will overshadow any example of being a club that is team based not individual based.
To be a successful club that is indicative of what it means to be at the top requires a team mentality and a complete lack of self-arrogance, as well as weeding out egotistical players, administrators, and Board members. It takes knowledge that great clubs make great players, not the other way around.
The players have come out and stated categorically that they are behind Michael Voss as a coach. The Board, thankfully, has come out and said they are categorically behind Michael Voss. The talk that some are spouting, that he should not be the coach, or that we must get rid of yet another coach to be successful, will make Carlton a laughing stock in the AFL world, continually. It will show them that we just don’t understand that, for long-term success, we need exactly what Sam Mitchell has said and done. We need to get players who want to play for the privilege of wearing the Navy Blue, whose egos are checked once they don that top. Who are willing to put in the work necessary to be a part of a great club. This means that consistency, stability, and a culture of not accepting knee-jerk reactions and being egotistical will not be tolerated at the club.
Carlton right now is, thank goodness, heading in the direction of solidifying long-term goals for long-term success. If players want out, then I will open the door for them, regardless of their surname or who they believe they are.
SPORTZ 